The Use of Syntax in Understanding Sentences

The present study explored the processes by which people understand sentences. Simple sentences with subjects, verbs and objects, but with specific semantic anomalies, were constructed from naturally occurring sentences. Sentences so derived were given to participants in Expts. I and III to judge for sensibleness and to participants in Expts. II and IV to alter so that they made more sense. The results showed the existence of two levels of processing: hierarchical and left‐to‐right. Participants judging sensibleness depended only on a sentence's deep structure, processing its functional relations according to hierarchical priorities—subject first, predicate second, and subject and predicate in combination last. This was true for both actives and passives. Participants altering sentences, however, depended on both deep and surface structure. They showed an additional left‐to‐right processing, preferring to change words near the end of both actives and passives. This effect was explained by thematic prominence. It was also found that participants treated actors as a restricted part of the universe of things which can be acted upon.